CDeutsch News Entries

I am analyzing "Archie Green, 91, Union Activist and Folklorist, Dies" from the New York Times.

The sources in this obituary were Archie Green's son, Derek Green, Simon Bronner, a folklore professor at the University of Pennsylvania, Peggy Bulger, the director of Washington's American Folklife Center, and Roger D. Abrahams, a retired folklore professor at the University of Pennsylvania.

The story has a standard obituary lead, introducing Green with his claim to fame and including where and when he died and his age. This lead is effective because it lets the reader know enough about the person to decide whether or not they want to continue reading.

The obituary differs from a resume because it details what he did outside of his job and how his passions addressed larger issues in the world. It describes not only what he got paid to do and what he chose to do for his career, but what he chose to do with his free time as well, and how that has made a difference in America. The obituary gives the reader a clearer idea of who he was as a person, not just what he did in the world, as well.

Posted by deuts076 at 1:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Six people were killed and three injured in a shooting Sunday at a Carthage, N.C. nursing home, police told USA Today.

The shootings took place around 10 a.m. at Pinelake Health and Rehab Center, the Charlotte Observer reported. The victims were taken to the Moore Regional Hospital in Carthage.

The gunman is in custody, USA Today reported.

Posted by deuts076 at 1:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The search for survivors continued Saturday after a dam burst Friday during heavy rainfall in Cirendeu, Indonesia, USA Today reported.

The flood of water killed at least 77 people. More than 100 are still reported missing.

A 230-foot gash in the dam let loose water, rocks and debris on more than 400 homes, BBC reported.

The dam, built in 1933, had little maintenance work done over the years since it was constructed, experts told BBC.

Aldi Rojadi, 34, whose house was damaged in the disaster, told USA Today he hopes someone will be held accountable for not repairing the dam after multiple reports of leaks over the years.

The government plans to give the victims millions of dollars in aid, the BBC reported.

Posted by deuts076 at 4:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Minnesota Orchestra announced budget cuts on Friday in response to economic conditions, the Star Tribune reported.

The orchestra plans to cut $2.3 million from its annual budget, the Pioneer Press reported.

The budget reductions affect the administration staff of the orchestra. Four full-time positions will be eliminated and six other positions will have reduced hours. Some part-time staffing will also be eliminated.

Music director Osmo Vänskä's salary will be reduced by 10 percent, and President and CEO Michael Henson's salary will be reduced by 7 percent, the Star Tribune reported.

The orchestra's box office will also now be closed on Mondays as part of the cutbacks, the Pioneer Press reported.

The total budget of the orchestra will be cut by 7 percent.

The musicians in the orchestra will be unaffected by the budget cuts, the Pioneer Press reported.

Posted by deuts076 at 1:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Minnesota Zoo's much-anticipated dolphin calf was stillborn Thursday morning, the Pioneer Press reported.

The Minnesota Zoo, located in Apple Valley, hoped Allie, a 21-year-old Atlantic bottlenose dolphin, would have the zoo's first successful dolphin birth.

The zoo had carefully monitored Allie's 12-month pregnancy, the Star Tribune reported. Allie's ultrasound Tuesday showed the calf was still viable then.

The calf likely died because of labor complications, but a necropsy - an animal autopsy - will be performed, the Pioneer Press reported. This was Allie's second calf.

The zoo houses four Atlantic bottlenose dolphins: Allie, April, 41, Semo, 45, and Spree, 6.

Posted by deuts076 at 9:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Red River reached it's highest point in history of Fargo, ND, USA Today reported.

The river broke its 112-year-old record of 40.33 feet, causing even more flooding worries in the Fargo/Moorhead, Minn., community.

The rising of the river caused the evacuation of a Fargo neighborhood before dawn, the New York Times reported.

Major roads have been closed in Fargo in order for sandbag trucks to reach their destinations as quickly as possible.

Dropping temperatures are slowing the flow of the river, USA Today reported. The cold temperatures, dropping below 10 degrees, have also frozen sandbags, which made dikes more difficult to fortify.

Authorities told the New York Times that 10 percent of the sandbags are being set aside in warm locations to fortify the dikes if they fail as the river rises. Three million sandbags have been made in the past six days.

The river is expected to reach its highest level on Saturday, and may remain at that level for several days.

Posted by deuts076 at 3:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at former U.S. President George W. Bush in December was sentenced Thursday to three years in jail, the Kansas City Star reported.

Muntader al-Zaidi was found guilty of assault of an official during the execution of his duties, the New York Times reported.

His family and supporters wept outside the courtroom when they heard the sentence.

There is split opinion among Iraqi journalists about the justice of the verdict. Some believe Zaidi was expressing an opinion, and others believe he shamed Iraq with his actions, the New York Times reported.

The decision and sentence will be appealed, Dhiya al-Saadi, Zaidi's lead lawyer, told the New York Times.

Posted by deuts076 at 10:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A 17-year-old gunman killed 15 people before his own death in Winnenden, Germany, Wednesday in what started as a school shooting and ended as a shoot-out with police, the Guardian reported.

The attacker, identified as Tim Kretschmer, was a former student of the Albertville high school where the attacks took place. He shot and killed nine students and three teachers, most of them female. He also killed a person at a nearby clinic and two passers-by during a shoot-out with police.

Kretschmer was wounded by police in the shoot-out, but apparently took his own life, the New York Times reported.

No motive for the killing had been found by Wednesday night.

A memorial for the tragedy started at the school and in Winnenden had started by Wednesday evening, the New York Times reported.

"This is a day of mourning for the whole of Germany," Angela Merkel, Germany's chancellor, told the Guardian.

Posted by deuts076 at 10:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A fight outside of the city hall in Gonzales, Texas, Tuesday left five people injured, two of them shot, USA Today reported.

Gonzales City Manager David Huseman said no city employees were involved in the fight.

The fight occurred after two cars were in an accident outside of city hall and pulled into the parking lot where a third car was hit, WOIA TV reported. The people involved then got out of their cars and someone pulled out a gun and started shooting.

WOIA TV reported only four people were injured, not five as USA Today reported.

WOIA TV reported that two people were shot and two were pistol-whipped. Two of the victims were taken to University Hospital in San Antonio.

One suspect is in custody and another is still at large, police told WOIA TV.

Posted by deuts076 at 8:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Minneapolis is to expect another inch of snow Tuesday evening, with one to three more by Wednesday, the Pioneer Press reported.

Colder temperatures are going to return with the winter storm as well, with Wednesday wind chills expected to reach -14, the National Weather Service told the Pioneer Press.

Roads closed in western Minnesota Tuesday afternoon, after the storm came through, starting to drop the expected 6 to 12 inches of snow expected for the area.

More than 100 school districts shut down in the western part of the state, the Star Tribune reported. In addition to the greater accumulation of snow in western Minnesota, winds reached up to 40 mph, creating low visibility.

Posted by deuts076 at 8:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

About two-thirds of the students from Black River Falls High School stayed home Monday after rumors of a planned school shooting as part of a suicide pact, officials told the Star Tribune.

Officials found no evidence to support the rumors, but heightened security at Black River Falls High School and Middle School.

The rumors started after two teens who attended the high school committed suicide in the past two weeks. Officials believe the suicides to be unrelated.

Students apparently started rumors that the two students were on a list of some sort, and morphed from there, Wisconsin Radio Network reported.

"As the rumor grew it morphed. It was supposed to be the high school at first, then it morphed into the middle school and then into the grade school," Black River Falls Police Chief Don Gilberg told Wisconsin Radio Network. "I want to make it very clear that it was a rumor started by some kids at the school, and they didn't even do it maliciously."

Posted by deuts076 at 11:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I chose to analyze "Stoppard, Ruhl, Shakespeare will play at Park Square" from the Star Tribune to look at event coverage.

The main source of this story is the Park Square Theater, presumably by way of a public relations representative. The story, for the most part, simply announces the 2009-10 season for the theater. The focus of the story is not the shows themselves, but rather the people involved in the shows, either focusing on writers, directors or actors. It also names many of theses people's past awards or past projects they are well-known for. Outside of detailed information about the people involved in these shows, the story is little more than a listing. Without a greater focus or story to tell, it doesn't seem likely to capture a reader's interest, unless he or she is already interested in theater. However, it certainly gets to the heart of the news and what the reader would be interested in, specifically which shows will be performed and who is involved in them.

Posted by deuts076 at 9:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

President Barack Obama plans to visit Turkey during his European trip next month, according to a Saturday speech of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the Boston Globe reported.

The visit to Turkey is part of Obama's pledge to engage in diplomacy with the Islamic world, Clinton said in her speech from Ankara, Turkey's capital.

Turkey will also likely have a place in the pull-out of Iraq, and may serve as an exit route for Americans, the Boston Globe reported.

Obama has also promised to give a speech from a Muslim capital as part of his diplomacy efforts, the Guardian reported. That speech is not planned for next month's visit to Turkey, however.

Obama plans to visit Turkey at the end of his trip to Europe.

Posted by deuts076 at 2:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A senior Vatican cleric on Saturday defended the decision of a Brazilian archbishop to excommunicate the doctors and mother of a 9-year-old girl who had an abortion after being raped, the BBC reported.

Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re told Italian paper La Stampa that the twins the girl had conceived "had the right to live."

The Brazilian president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, criticized Friday regional archbishop José Cardoso Sobrinho's decision to excommunicate the mother and doctors.

The girl's stepfather has been accused of sexual abuse, the New York Times reported, He is currently in jail.

The girl was discovered to be four months pregnant last week, after she was taken to the hospital for stomach pains.

Abortion is illegal in Brazil, except in cases of rape and if the mother's life is endangered, the New York Times reported.

Posted by deuts076 at 9:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The gray wolf will be taken off the endangered species list in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Montana, Idaho and parts of Washington, Oregon and Utah, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced Friday, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported.

The status of gray wolves in the region has gone back and forth due to U.S. Fish and Wildlife decisions and federal court rulings. The Obama administration reviewed the situation, and through Salazar's announcement upheld the U.S. Fish and Wildlife decision.

Due to the delisting, the individual states will assume management over the wolves, the New York Times reported.

The states have a gray-wolf population of over 5,500, Salazar told the New York Times.

The gray wolf is still under protection in Wyoming.

Environmentalists told the New York Times they plan to sue to have the animals put back on the list.

Posted by deuts076 at 8:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Wisconsin residents spotted a mountain lion near Spooner Tuesday, and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources tried and failed to sedate it and fit it with a radio collar, the Star Tribune reported.

Four mountain lion hunters, Mark Brown, Steven Thompson, Steve Curtis and Kevin Radman treed the animal with hunting dogs on Tuesday, which drew a crowd of onlookers. The hunters let the animal go.

The DNC contacted the hunters for assistance in treeing the animal again Wednesday, in hopes of tranquilizing it and track its future movements. Their efforts to do so didn't work, and Brown, Thompson, Curtis and Radman called off their dogs and decided not to harass the cat further.

The DNC attempted and again failed to sedate the animal on Thursday. Hayward, Wis., area wildlife supervisor Ken Jonas told the Star Tribune the animal wouldn't be tracked again any time soon.

The cat is an adult male weighing between 120 and 130 pounds, the Pioneer Press reported. Before the two recent confirmed sightings in the past two years, mountain lions hadn't been spotted in Wisconsin for 100 years.

Posted by deuts076 at 3:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A 72-year-old Elk River man is in critical condition after a workshop explosion Wednesday near his home, the Pioneer Press reported.

Vern Ohman had been using a saw that sparked, which police believe ignited a propane line, causing the explosion, the Star Tribune reported. The state Office of Pipeline Safety plans to investigate the explosion.

Both Ohman and neighbors called 911 after the blast, Elk River Police Chief Jeff Beahen told the Pioneer Press. The blast was felt as far as 14 miles away from the explosion.

Dr. Leslie Smith, assistant director of HCMC's Burn Center, told the Star Tribune Ohman was lucky to have survived the explosion. Beahen said that if Ohman wasn't so near the center of the explosion, he would have died instantly.

Ohman is currently in a medically-induced coma, but is recovering.

Posted by deuts076 at 3:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Illusionists Siegfried Fischbacher and Roy Horn held one-night comeback Saturday at a Las Vegas hotel, more than five years after a tiger attack ended their careers, the BBC reported.

The Bengal tiger responsible for the attack, Montecore, was also part of the performance.

The pair and tiger performed an illusion in which Fischbacher was put in a cage, and the cage was then covered. When the cage was uncovered, the tiger had replaced him. The pair received a standing ovation from the crowd.

The act was part of a benefit for the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health, USA Today reported. It took place at the Bellagio hotel-casino.

Fischbacher and Horn were responsible for one of the biggest shows in Las Vegas history. They stopped performing after Montecore bit Horn's neck and dragged him offstage during a performance during October 2003, USA Today reported.

The attack damaged Horn's windpipe and neck artery. It left him partially paralyzed.

The pair believe the tiger was trying to protect Horn after sensing he had a mini-stroke. The theory is disputed by animal experts.

Posted by deuts076 at 12:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The story/press release I am analyzing for this entry is "Chris Coleman and other mayors protest plans to cut local government aid" from the Pioneer Press and the press release from the city of St. Paul about the same event.

The press release and the story contain many of the same elements. They both what funding will be slashed under Gov. Tim Pawlenty's proposed budget and what this will mean for the cities affected. They also both mention what St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman and other Minnesota mayors think is an important program to help support local governments, that of local government aid. The reporter did not put as much information about the program as was available in the press release, however. The story was more focused on numbers and also the bigger picture for the Minneapolis/St. Paul area, whereas the press release was more focused on the effect in St. Paul. The story also contained information about how cuts were already affecting police officers, something the press release didn't mention at all. The reporter clearly made a choice to find out more information about the issue than simply what was provided in the press release.

Posted by deuts076 at 12:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)